An old darkness
by lady-wyntyr
Summary: An old darkness rises in Valdemar.
1. Chapter 1

Well here is the first chapter. A new darkness approached Valdermar but only the meagre talents of a few saw what was happening. Valdermar is confronted with this darkness nearly completely unaware.

'What is the point?' Gentlewind thought as he lazily floated in the cool waters of a dreamy pond. Set among tall statuesque oaks tower above him, dappled shade fell onto the rippling water, the thickness of the lush foliage prevented any light from falling. But a soft mist like glow managed to peer down onto the surface of the water and the young man floating there.

His absent-minded complaint was carried away on a breeze and he sighed dramatically to prolong his melancholy mood but the cool evening breeze was more persistent then his determination to remain upset.

Gentlewind turned his head slightly and watched his hair trail through the water and couldn't help but smile; no doubt he had scared most of the fauna around here witless with his earlier splashing and bad temper.

A short giggle escaped as he imagined uncle Sharpetooth's face at his appalling conduct at dinner today but, goddess be blessed, he had gone somewhere after their argument, somewhere to think.

Well, he thought, I'm here now I may as well enjoy it, and returned to contemplating the tall foliage above him. A slight pinprick of light seemed to flutter slightly brighter and it caught his attention.

Slowly a wind moved through the trees gaining strength as it moved. It was as ethereal as it was heartbreaking and his heartbeat slowed and his breath burnt in his chest.

The moving foliage deafened him with a rustle and a scraping that made his ears cringe, more reminiscent of autumn then midsummer. The light hit his eyes and blinding them in a warm yellow glow stole his sight. Clearing a blurred moving image formed accentuated by his silent breathing that he could feel but the forest overcame all his other senses. His mind clawed at the feeling of his body but it slipped away and his mind fell in to dark hole.

Gentlewind stood with his merophorical jaw on the ground, one near death drowning experience and they were sending him away. His mother and father had already been and gone; they were scouts prone to decisive decisions and gods help them they knew something had to be done about their wayward son and as far as they were concerned K'Valdemar was the best option. Deepwind and Palemoon had left him with only an awkward pat on his shoulder for comfort.

He couldn't believe that it had come to this he knew his foresight was strong, maybe too strong but he never thought they would send him away because of it. The worst thing was that he couldn't remember the vision; all he could remember was seeing a horse fly over the moon. But he hadn't said anything because it wasn't tangible and if he had they would have probably sent him to a healing mage with possible mental problems.

He knew his parents didn't understand him; he was a gentle, he hated being cold and had a strong gift. Not like anyone really at K'Onsoya vale, which was populated by scouts mainly, or tool and weapon makers. Magery was sadly lacking.

Here he was waiting, alone for no one could be spared to wait for him, not with mid summer fair fast approaching, for one of K'shena's mage's to gate here and then do something, and then do something else. Basically he had been told to wait here. No one had stayed around long enough to really explain, they wanted to be well clear before the mage came.

An arch formed before him and he held his breath…

…………………………..

Ashlea looked at the piece of crumpled parchment in her hand staring at it as though it might, if glared at so change what was written on it. The unchanged script wrenched a cry from her.

The world shifted and turned for a moment, as the words seemed to rise out of the page and ensnare her sight. She opened her eyes and found herself laid out on the floor with no clue how she had come to be there. The icy cold of the paving stone pressed into her cheek as she struggled to calm her frantic breathing; while her mother ran to her in concern across the white sandstone paving of the inner courtyard.

A random though filtered through her mind, how strange she must look in her black dress and veil upon a white floor, like a small blemish. Her heart started to hammer against her chest and tears found themselves trailing down her cheeks but she would not make another sound. She staggered onto her feat still dizzy from fainting, before her mother could reach her and ran wildly towards the main entrance. Her veil and hat dragged off by a sudden wind.

The icy wind was a stark reminder that winter was coming, creeping ever closer. The top step of the entrance hall caught on her foot and she fell forward and grabbed the pillar of one side of the entrance arch but fell to the floor sobbing. The world disappeared for a while.

Slowly framed by the door's stone archway snow began to fall and the sunless stormy sky was violated with an early full moon rising from the distant shadowy mountains. On a far peak a signal fire sprang up to light the way and give hope but its light did not spread. It was dimmed by the rising dark.

An eerie wail echoed around the surrounding mountains. Birds to flight in alarm and cattle started to run agitatedly around their paddocks.

Lady Tere'asa looked at her daughter and stepped slowly towards her. Falling to her knees she cradled her daughter's head in her lap and gazed out into the night and began to talk whether to herself or the presence she could feel out side she did not know,

"It has come to this. I had hoped for so long, Ah well, the fates will be fickle," looking at her daughter she brushed the hair out of her eyes and wiped away the moisture left on her face, "My time is long over due but you, you have a future and hopefully you will be able to do something about that future. I had hoped we would have more time but it looks I was to optimistic."

In the far distance a darker shadow, an absence of light started to creep across the land before it reached the signal fire and rebounded from the light. The signal fire flickered and dimmed in response but did not die. The promise of darkness lingered. Silence descended and cut out all other distractions. The darkness was out there and had surrounded the mannor. The lady dragged herself upright and stared at the darkness,

"I told them that you would come," the Lady sighed, "but who would listen to an old woman whose Companion is long gone and is most likely mad, but I saw you coming." The Lady's attention was pulled away from the shadow as her daughter sighed. Her words dimmed but did not stop,

"One last trick old woman, one last casting. You are rusty but you can do it. This girl child will be needed you know that. If only they had listened, but all is not lost yet, this one carries my talent."

Slowly the old herald walked slowly to the stone archway leaving her daughter on the cold stone as the snow swept in. Before calling up what talent rested in her old bones and creating a gate. Not much of one but enough to suffice. Looking sadly at her daughter she let a few tears escape from their confines,

"I have seen so much, but it makes no sense but you should go to Haven, it the best place for you to grow and live. Hopefully you will understand what I could not." Pushing her daughter through she cried out as though losing a part of herself, staggering and nearly falling. The darkness seemed to serge at her weakness. Tere'asa threw her hand up as though to hold away the darkness. As her hand shook she laughed a dry chuckle,

"Oh no, no, no, you can't come no further. I have seen it so. Huh. This house you may not come near until the moon has set. But I am tired and what bother it would be for you and my people if you should have to search for me in my stronghold. Oh no. I will give you what you want!"

Slowly the old woman lowered herself down the steps at the entrance. Until she was perched on the last paving stone outside of the hold. One more step and she would be outside the predestined safety. Slowly she walked forward one step. As soon as both feet were off the paving stone the darkness swept forward and devoured the woman before receding out of sight. A small boy looked out of the high window and screamed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The darkness paused at the scream and looked back at the small boy and threw a bolt of power. But the defences the old woman had so painstakingly but up lingered a little after her death and took the brunt of the power but still the boy's world went black and then faded completely away.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ponjee is a medium sized town in the Kingdom of Ruvan, which is just below Karse. Although it does not have the extraordinary mix of people that Tarann has. Tarann is in close proximity to Jkatha and Velvar not to mention being very close to the shin'a'in trade road. Or the marvellous architecture of the Throne city it is still an interesting place to visit."

Tade sighed dramatically, "To sum it up there is absolutely no point to visit there and I have no idea why we have to learn about this awfully boring place."

There was a general giggle fro the general vicinity and Tade smiled at himself, he new he was shamelessly looking for attention but he was bored and this essay was going nowhere.

He peeked above his book to see Rellinda or Relly to most of them glare at him from across the library table before miming at him to be quiet and looking towards the main desk at the glaring librarian, Mistress Quain. A minute or two later she leaned over and whispered quietly,

"You know why, we talked about this already, Karse is an ally and so it's only polite for us to know a little about its surrounding neighbours. We don't have to know much or anything and anyway you're the one who made a fuss in class, that's why Herald Vin made you do the essay, it was probably the first town that came into his head. And your grammar in atrocious an essay should flow." With that she slouched determinedly in her chair and raised her book and started scribbling on a sheet of parchment.

Tade shook his head leaned over and pulled the book down,

You'll go cross eyed if you read it that closely, how was I meant to know that he came from the gods'b'damned country, it just seemed pointless at the time…." A deep bell sounded down in the city which could be spied from the window they were sitting by, "Lunch!"

"Oh, you," exclaimed Relly, "all you think off is your stomach," a second bell rang closer to them and they picked up their books and papers and ran out off the library as quickly as possible, for Relly looked forward to meal times as much as Tade did though she would never admit.

Getting from the Old library to the Dining hall was an interesting journey as the old library was situated near to the healers and the Unaffiliated part of the complex, each had their own library now, of course, but the old library was still popular as it was somehow calmer and more relaxing. It looked out over the city and was the oldest part of the collegium complex. The thick stonework, arched ceiling and ancient tapestries were historical feeling in summer, but in winter none but the brave ventured into the old library as it was cold!

Tade turned around and then looked back at Relly, something was bugging him, had he forgotten something? No. He'd have to ask Melken…Melken.

"Relly, you seen 'elk recently?" Tade said.

Relly turned around at him and stared at him like she could not believe what he had just said,

"You…you…you," her face went red, "he's been at healers for three days and you only just noticed!"

Tade tried to look innocent and failed, "Guy's just don't notice these things," he said shoving his hands into his pockets and walking off briskly for a few paces and then stopping. He slowly turned around and leaned his head to the side inquisitively,

"Healer's you said, what's wrong wit him?"

Relly just had to laugh at Tade's obvious lack of any knowledge. Tade never knew what was going on, he didn't need to know what the gossip was because usually he was or what he had done was the gossip. But she couldn't help but tease him he deserved to work for any information he got out off her.

"Oh you know," she said evasively, "the trouble they had up with the mages. At his uncomprehending look she smiled a little and decided to give in,

"When that girl tried to gate into the colligium, and got tangled up in one of the 3rd year's mage lessons. Melken was in the group they were involved in something terribly complex and involving quiet a bit of power and the backlash of the gate sent the lot of them back a few days. But Sare at healers was saying they will be out within the week. Poor things, she said they were very tired and achy."

"Whoa," yelled Tade "slow down, please, what girl, what and when…how did I miss this?" he jumped in front of her demanding to know what was going on.

Relly just giggled Tade was so funny to tease when she got the chance. She looked at him again then burst out laughing at his bemused expression. Turning around and starting to run she called back,

"I'll tell you over lunch,"

The dinning hall was huge and loud with trainee's running back and forth between the kitchens and the main hall, not to mention trainees moving up and down the table to grab at bread rolls and juice laid out. The nise was defining, it seemed sometimes that they talked just to prove that after an hour of study that they still could. Many of the younger ones were swallowing their food as fast as they could so they could spend the rest of lunch with their new companions. If the truth be told, if you happened to walk past the companions field there would be several companions trying not to be obviously waiting for said trainee's to stop eating everything in sight and come out, but companions were never anxious or needy, no!

At that moment across a lawn behind a wall, past a garden and through a door another herald trainee was eating his lunch although he was alone and confined to his bed. He looked out the door to the garden beyond swung he legs of the bed to get up and winced slightly, he really shouldn't be walking but he was lonely. He looked down meat roll in his hand but he wasn't hungry. That girl's scream as she came through the gate was haunting him, it was all his fault.

_No it wasn't_

'elk smiled at the assertion from his companion.

_You are wallowing in it and you now it, you just happened to be present, she was the one who gated that close to the heart stone. And her scream wasn't the noise that I remember it was the abject spoilt wailing afterwards, the banging of fist on the floor, the 'its not fair's'._

"What?" elk finally replied, "why didn't I hear of this already"

There was a long silence and elk got the mental picture of an embarrassed silence and a companion's twitching hide.

_I kinda wasn't meant to say anything until who she is, is worked out and all that but she was your classic spoilt little lordling's daughter. I heard everything from Rolan. Anyway she's fine, unconscious still but fine._


End file.
